"There were points in my life where I felt oddly irresistible to women. I’m not in that state now and that makes me sad. But I also believe that a lot of the improvements in my character have come through ageing and the diminishing of powers. It’s all a balancing act; you just have to get used to the ride."
Jack Nicholson.
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Funny, everything I do and everywhere I go is for a chance to get away from women.
I go to the store for food and don't notice anybody, except one elderly women worker who sometimes says hi.
She had a couple dozen hearts on her nametag for customers reporting praise of her for one reason or another.
I said you ought to get hearts for being nice to assholes, not nice people. She thought that was funny.
I didn't report her though, because I'm an asshole.
To be fair, there was a lot of room for improvement there.
And the tendency he notes is certainly true about most men I've known and the man I was. But that also changes over time.
-XC
"Funny, everything I do and everywhere I go is for a chance to get away from women."
Thanks for joining me here this morning.
You're the exception.
"...I felt oddly irresistible to women."
It's called status.
Younger, I used to spend much time at the Art Institute of Chicago, and at the end of the day was always more affected by the thought of the artist alive, thinking and manipulating, making in deed the piece which had most affected me than the piece itself; and always at least one woman's presence I had had the fortune of crossing would easily trump them both. Older, I enjoy museums even more, and being honest, the order of the three remains the same.
Cue the many, many male Althouse readers who never think or do or care much about women and certainly don't factor them into any of their decisions, plans, actions, etc.
Fibbers all . . . well, except for the gay guys, and frankly they're probably lying too because they all have moms.
Jack's 'chemical' powers have certainly waned over the years. Probably as he's got older the younger ladies think he's just a dirty old man so once past 50 Jack would 'appeal' to fewer females. I am sure Pierce Brosnan ( although not as predatory) would also feel the same as Jack.
Wonder if his bucket list has spilled over yet?
NOW meetings are for picking up babes.
If there still are NOW meetings.
I think they're THEN meetings by this point.
"If men are honest, everything they do and everywhere they go is for a chance to see women."
That was only true when I was a teenager. But then, there were points in my life where I felt I oddly invisible to women.
It's always odd when someone makes a singular statement describing only a tiny fraction of all people, and think it applies to all.
@TWM "Cue the many, many male Althouse readers who don't factor them into any of their decisions, plans, actions, etc. Fibbers all . . ."
Nicholson didn't say any of their plans, but all their plans. ("everything they do and everywhere they go")
I work about 12 hours a day, not to meet or see babes, but to make some dough. The remaining time between 6:15 and 10 pm, when I sleep, is spent cooking, eating, cleaning up, chauffeuring, going to meetings, and fixing broken stuff in the house.
Women are factored in only in that some of this is done at their request.
Steven Rhoads, a prof at University of Virginia, has wisely written:
"The libidos of perfectly ordinary men, when fully understood by women, seem deformed or disreputable to them. Many women strongly resist an accurate presentation of male sexuality."
The above quote appears on page 53 of Premarital Sex in America by Regnerus and Uecker.
Being a very wealthy movie star probably added a lot to his irresistability.
I hear he'd keep a stack of peanut butter sandwiches at hand to keep his stamina up while in flagrante delicto.
Nicholson has a lot of money and he's famous.
That equals easy access to women.
So, he's speaking from that point of view.
Few of us men have the money or social status that equals easy access to women.
So, life looks a little different to us.
I'm just an old man now. Don't have a lot of money. A little fame here and there. That produces a very different point of view.
"everything they do and everywhere they go is for a chance to see women"
This was true for me in my 20s.
Not so much now.
How shallow! Not that he's after women all the time, but that he thinks everyone has the same point of view and motivations.
Palladian: You're the exception.
I'm wondering if that's a compliment or not.
Nicholson sounds so...so French.
@TWM "Cue the many, many male Althouse readers who don't factor them into any of their decisions, plans, actions, etc.
Fibbers all . . ."
Note to you: you can't read minds.
Nicholson and you are making blanket statements, neither of which are worth a crap because they're blanket statements.
If Nicholson were honest, he'd admit he's just talking about himself.
wv: olimeter - device for sizing olives.
It’s true that Nicholson’s face doesn’t betray his past like Richards’s does. Yes, he has a hedonist’s paunch and greying hair, but he has few lines and could easily pass for a man 15 years his junior.
Few lines? Really? Those photos tell another story.
Wasn't it at Nicholson's house where Roman Polanski raped the 13-y/o? Stories like that make me question his understanding of "irresistible to women". I do not understand admiration of Nicholson.
My father always told me, "If you stop looking, you're dead"
Macular degeneration took his eye-sight, and he died.
We are really roosters at heart. And it sucks to be an aging rooster. Thanks Jack for the reminder.
Jack was always way more attractive when he is standing on his wallet and getting starlets gigs.
Otherwise he is a less talented Harry Dean Stanton.
I remember him when he was just Dean Stanton. And you're right, Troop, he's (Harry) an excellent actor.
If you watch Mad Men you get the idea that men were like this 50 years ago. In 1961 Nicholson was roughly the age of Pete Campbell. So it may be true in his case.
"Nicholson and you are making blanket statements, neither of which are worth a crap because they're blanket statements."
Except with blanket statements are true, as they often are.
Funny, everything I do and everywhere I go is for a chance to get away from women.
Pretty much the same here. Communicating facelessly in blog comments over the Internet is close enough. It's definitely not a chance to see women. Pictures aren't what Jack had in mind, I don't think.
It begs the question to say that he was only trading on his wealth and fame. Wealth and fame are harder to pick up than girls....I have more respect for a guy like Paul Newman who made his marriage work over decades. You can argue that spending years getting to know all the phases and intricacies of a single woman is a greater adventure than the monotony of endless promiscuity and sucking in one's tummy on the first night. On the other hand, fate grants very few men the opportunity to bed an endless succession of starlets and models. It seems almost blasphemous of God's will not to take advantage of such good fortune.....If there are any models or starlets present, I would appreciate their help on how to resolve my indecision on this matter.
All civilization was just an effort to impress the opposite sex… and sometimes the same sex.
- Futurama
Just commenting to irritate those of you boys who are here to get away from women!!
: )
No offense Althouse, but I don't think of you foremost as a woman. You are too good at mocking, smirking, scoffing , analyzing people, places and things. And you do it often. These are not the most common womanly traits.
He had a chest augmentation?
I felt the same way he did, except about men, until I turned 40. But I do love being around women, much more than men, especially other gay men.
I am now married and could never go to a club.
I am leaving for India in a week and am housesitting at my parents right now.
There are sandhill cranes outside moaning. I believe they are horny. Horny san hill cranes have this horrible moaning sound. They are fucking loud.
From Dilbert:
The Boss: "I have just learned that you guys spend 25% of your time daydreaming about attractive women. Do you realize how much time is wasted here?"
Wally: "75%?"
Dilbert: "It's a trick question."
Ted *thought bubble*: "Irene..."
I recently saw "The Bucket List". Wow, what dreck, but I'll bet it was a nice payday. I really don't want to hear Jack complaining about quality scripts etc anymore.
I misread it as golfer Jack Nicklaus.
"Is that a wallet in your pocket or are you just glad to see me."
ricpic,
It's called status.
Exactly. When I say women are stupid, it's not some sexist bit of business but from living a life most men have no clue about. Even as a mid-level rock star, I had them lined up around the block. (I went over to my drummer's house one day and he had one cleaning his floor with a toothbrush.) Women will do anything to be close to someone who can accomplish something - or do you think Bill Gates just became strikingly handsome one day?
I can flirt - I'm even good at it - but, after 20+ years of being a recording artist/band leader/member - and then my ex's actions after I ignored other women during all those years - it's the farthest thing from my mind.
I watch other men, breaking their necks to catch a glimpse of someone, and I either laugh or feel pity for them. I laugh because they're comically silly, and pity because they're the perfect representatives for why feminism has made such inroads to fucking up their lives. I've never been one of them and I never will:
I don't chase women - women chase me.
And, if men were smart, they'd get back to doing things that would drive women to behaving like it's perpetually Beatlemania, but, instead, they're too busy - trying to look wimpy enough to be in "the friend zone" (Oh, no!) - hoping to get close enough for a sniff. That's just idiotic.
Idiots chasing the stupid. That's the plan for creating future generations.
Y'all let me know how well that works out, O.K.?
If women are honest, everything they do and everywhere they go is for a chance to get men ... to pick up the check.
PaulV said...
I misread it as golfer Jack Nicklaus.
Pretty much the same life arc, sexually speaking.
I don't think his comment applies well to most married men.
In fact, in making a list of activities that my husband and the husbands of my friends do without their wives, I can't find a single activity that includes women. In fact, I'd say the activities are those where they are the least likely to encounter any women at all.
When not seeking new sex partners, most men seem to avoid women in general or to at least be indifferent to their presence.
I always say that intelligent women are the most attractive to me.
It works.
WV: grati
grat i b
Freeman,
Were you just saying something?
What Nicholson said isn't true for me, although it is always nice to see attractive women if they happen to be around. :)
My friend's late grandfather left him a coffee cup with this bit of eternal wisdom printed on it:
"I spent most of my money on wine, women and song. The rest I just wasted"
Freeman Hunt: In fact, in making a list of activities that my husband and the husbands of my friends do without their wives, I can't find a single activity that includes women. In fact, I'd say the activities are those where they are the least likely to encounter any women at all.
And think about traditional cultures with their highly segregated sex rolls: "This is men's work, go away and do women's work". Not seeing the opposite sex was the basis of society!
Freeman is right of course and as always.
But I'd like to point out that if you read the entire interview you might conclude something different than most have here.
Note that he speaks of having been taught manners by his erstwhile mother/grandmother and of liking being in the presence of women. I infer a more Oedipal interest in women, or even a motherly interest in women from Jack.
Certainly he means men have a sexual interest in women. This is true on its face. But I also infer that he means that men also seek the attention of women as motherly influences too.
Unless, of course they're going hunting or to ball games. Those are our times of freedom.
My name is James...James Bond. And the beauty queen was bedded by midnight. Those were the days. And James got to ditch them with no problems. Then Lee Marvin pioneered Palimony and it has been downhill since.The answer is the 55+ ladies. They will do you good and not harm since they want to keep you around. The younger ones are usuallyl playing in a Gold diggers ponzi scheme
As knox implies, I'll ask how many men are posting here as a way to meet women? It worked for Meade. Will lightning strike twice?
Growing up I was daily refilled with hope at the theoretical prospect of meeting some female. But I largely remained, and remain, invisible to them.
So I think while not entirely motivated to "see women," there is always in the back of my head speculation that some ideal female will make her face known, and yank me into a more interesting reality.
I think Nicholson is projecting a bit. He's a wealthy celebrity, which for many young women is a major aphrodisiac, and while he has maintained a busy film schedule it is also true that he has basically played the same character over and over.
The rest of us have to work for a living, so we must continually adjust to changes in our workplaces from technology, or corporate takeovers, etc. And many of us men have found the one right woman and don't go hunting for opportunities to "see women."
Freeman Hunt, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but...you know those fishing trips that your husband and his buddies make to Lake Superior every spring? The night before they visit a strip club in Muskegon. And it's the highlight of the trip.
If women knew what it was like inside the mind of a man, they'd all become lesbians.
A proof:
http://www.abc.es/20110128/sociedad/abci-infidelidad-homosexual-201101281143.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g4:r1:c0.000000:b0:z0
As knox implies, I'll ask how many men are posting here as a way to meet women? It worked for Meade. Will lightning strike twice?
What, you think he'll share her?
Pastafarian,
Freeman Hunt, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but...you know those fishing trips that your husband and his buddies make to Lake Superior every spring? The night before they visit a strip club in Muskegon. And it's the highlight of the trip.
If women knew what it was like inside the mind of a man, they'd all become lesbians.
Ha, Pasta, your comment reminded me of a trip I took back to the States without my wife one year. I'm on the plane, hanging in the dining area with a group of guys, doing the "Why are you here?" thing when I tell them I'm going home alone to work. Immediately, they all start doing the "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" shit, looking like the bunch of malevolent dorks they were, and telling me it was definitely time for me to get back to my seat. When I told them, no, I was just going home to work - there'd be no "on the side" activities - they seemed to become confused, lost, and a bit angry at me, like I had let them down or something. I felt sorry for them. I guess I've always felt sorry for men who don't live up to their mantle.
So, that's what goes on in the mind of this man, and - you're probably right - that those other guys are probably talking everyone into "alternative lifestyles" because, let's face it, who would want to be like them?
Oh yea - the folks in "alternative lifestyles" - and they're working really, really hard to get there.
I'm surrounded by idiots.
Freeman Hunt, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but...you know those fishing trips that your husband and his buddies make to Lake Superior every spring? The night before they visit a strip club in Muskegon. And it's the highlight of the trip.
Reminds me of my sister's experience. Her husband got into bird watching. Occasionally, he'd go on group outings where they counted the varieties of birds in a wild life area or such. He took his secretary along for evening pleasures. He's married to her now.
The night before they visit a strip club in Muskegon. And it's the highlight of the trip.
My husband's male get-togethers are in our basement, and I am always home upstairs to watch our kids. I don't think strippers are sneaking down the chimney.
My husband was also famously the only one in his fraternity who refused to go to a strip club as part of some pledge work week reward. He found the idea disrespectful and unappealing.
Some guys are into ideals of character and ideals of interaction between the sexes.
It's just like how some women are into running down their husbands. They get together with other women, and all they want to do is trash their men. Then when someone in the group doesn't play that game, the other women are put out.
Or, another female version example, single women who will date married men and single women who won't.
Different people, different outlooks, different choices.
Just to be clear, because I'd hate for anyone to think me a relativist, I don't mean "Different equal choices." If you run down your husband behind his back or date married men, your choices are bad.
Didn't I already say that Freeman is always right?
I'll just say this: the world doesn't owe Natalie Portman a living.
If women knew what it was like inside the mind of a man, they'd all become lesbians. […]
“I spent most of my money on wine, women and song. The rest I just wasted.”
I was talking to a lesbian friend the other day, who said much the same thing — but wasn't nearly so sanguine about it, having on more than one occasion in the first gush of love transferred her life savings into the control of her partner — with nothing now left of either her savings or the relationship.
She's managed to avoid making that mistake with her present partner — who didn't understand at all her reluctance to do so — but after several years is now locked in a sexless relationship with her. How many men have seen that before?
Now she's nearly homeless.
I wonder if the result of such experiences might allow many lesbians — at least the non man-haters among them — to empathize and sympathize with men's situation more than most women possibly could.
(It turns out she also knows the woman doctor [well, PA] that I've been going to, and on comparing notes we discovered that we both thought she was hot and wanted to ask her out! I thought that was pretty funny.)
Or, another female version example, single women who will date married men and single women who won't.
Different people, different outlooks, different choices.
Exactly. Let’s not tar everyone with the same brush. Some people are honorable, for honors sake. Some are not.
TWM --
"Except with blanket statements are true, as they often are."
Those describing all people or even a large group of them? Could you provide an example?
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